ST. LOUIS -- Detroit avoided losing to another St. Louis team, getting two goals from Tomas Holmstrom off setups from Pavel Datsyuk in the Red Wings' 3-2 victory over the Blues on Saturday night.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, fresh from a five-game World Series victory over the Tigers, dropped the ceremonial first puck. It failed to spur the Blues, who have lost eight of nine to the Wings the last two seasons.

Bill Guerin scored his fourth goal on a deflection in the second period for the Blues, who played their first game in a week. Radek Dvorak's short-handed breakaway cut the gap to one with 3:26 to go.

Detroit played for the second straight night after winning 5-4 at Dallas on Friday.

Wings backup goalie Chris Osgood, formerly with the Blues, outplayed Manny Legace, who joined St. Louis as a free agent in the offseason. Osgood got a pair of friendly bounces midway through the third period when Dennis Wideman's wrist shot deflected off both goal posts with Detroit leading 3-1.

The goal light went on but replays indicated the puck did not cross the line.

Holmstrom scored on the Wings' first shot at 4:33 of the first, scoring the 300th point of his career. His second goal came on a second-chance deflection at 6:34 of the third.

Legace stopped the initial attempt but Holmstrom batted in the puck for his third goal of the season.

The Wings also converted their second shot of the game, when Valtteri Filppula split two defenders and flipped in a backhander at 6:32 of the first for a 2-0 lead.

Notes: Datsyuk has two goals and four assists in his last four games. ... This was the first of eight games between the teams.